DALE Whitnell’s visit to the banks of Loch Lomond ended quicker than he would have wanted as he missed the halfway cut at the Barclay’s Scottish Open.

Playing alongside some of the biggest names in world golf, the 21-year-old Tiptree golfer made a great start to the PGA European Tour event and recorded an opening round of 71.

That placed him on par with US Open champion Graeme McDowell and former British Open winner Tom Lehman and ahead of Ryder Cup stars such as Søren Hansen, Thomas Björn and Miguel Angel Jiménez, however, the second day proved more troublesome for the Five Lakes member.

Heavy rain in the morning made life difficult for Whitnell and his second round score of 78 dropped him down the leaderboard, where he missed the cut by seven strokes.

Following his Scottish trip, Whitnell is due to travel to Switzerland this week, where he rejoins the PGA Challenge Tour ahead of next week’s English Challenge tournament at Stoke by Nayland.

He is entered for the Credit Swiss Challenge at Hildisrieden, which tees off on Thursday.